Amendments To Restore The American Dream

From The Patriot Word:

Saturday, July 17, 2010


Amendments to Restore the American Dream

Having read a smattering of amendment proposals and written a collection of my own, I notice a lack of unifying direction. In fact, I have no confidence that a collection of popular but random amendments will best affect our safety and happiness as Thomas Jefferson suggested as our guide to when altering our form of government.



Classifying the proposals I have seen produces several broad groups:

1. Constraining the federal government to constitutionally enumerated powers.

2. Restoring the original meanings of misinterpreted clauses.

3. Repealing amendments that have caused undesirable effects.

4. Establishing new powers and limitations.

5. Special interest amendments



Amendments in these categories are all dedicated to ensure a strict adherence to the original intention of the United States Constitution. While, I agree with virtually everything proposed this point of view is myopic in my opinion. What we are doing is focusing on a specific path and hoping that it will lead us to the destination we seek. As I said earlier, I have no faith in such a plan; i.e. directions that don’t contain a very specific and easily understood destination. Following a set of directions is only good until the first deviation is encountered. After deviating around the unforeseen obstacle continuing to follow the same directions is not a good plan, and after more than 220 years of deviations for unforeseeable obstacles we find ourselves completely lost. To make matters worse we’ve been lost for so long that we have forgotten where we were heading, if any us actually every knew.



Considering the importance of knowing where we are going, I propose two additional categories establishing a mission statement and operating principles for the United States Government. When businesses lose focus, they seek their core values and use them as a guide, which is exactly what the United States needs to do.



Here are my categories and related amendments:

6. Mission statement:

It is the mission of the United States Government to protect the inalienable individual Rights of Life, Liberty, and Property of the citizens and the residents of the country.



7. Operating principle:

Life, Liberty, and Property are absolute inalienable individual Rights of which no person can be deprived except by an individual trial by jury. Any law, which violates the operating principle of the United States, is null and void.



I still intend to advocate all of the amendments on my original list which are covered under the earlier categories, but I am much more confident about reaching our desired destination after having specified that destination. Change what ever you like, but don’t ever lose sight of the destination again…

Posted by Walter L. Brown Jr. at 12:22 AM

Labels: American Dream Amendment